March 2011
3 posts
The fifth naturalist on a team of four
Today Claudine called from Emandal to tell me that they had gone with a guy they had worked with for the past 3 seasons. She told me that she thought that I would have been a really great fit at Emandal and that the more she talked to my references, the more she thought so, but, in the end, it came down to experience. I guess there isn’t much incentive to hire someone on potential when...
the 'right' job
Yesterday I got all philosophic on my interviewer. She asked me whether I considered myself a multi-tasker and I let loose with everything I’ve been thinking about while in South America. About how I produce my best work when I can focus my attention on the job at hand and how technology has been fragmenting our collective attention span. I ended by saying that I was definitely the...
February 2011
4 posts
following that inner child
Modern European and American children spend much of their time being passively entertained by television, radio and movies. In the average American household, the TV set is on for seven hours per day. In contrast, traditional New Guinea children have virtually no such opportunities for passive entertainment and instead spend almost all of their waking hours actively doing something, such as...
the last couple days
Another note on traveling alone, people are much friendlier and willing to talk when they see a solo traveler. I’m also different, more outgoing, solicitous and always looking to make eye contact with a smile and a nod. While I was traveling with Yishi and Dmitri, it didn’t seem like there was that much potential for forming and keeping friendships, or even extended conversations. A group of...
on memory and backpacking
I’m carrying my home on my back – tent, clothes, food, water, toiletries. It’s an adventure, knowing that I can hike around and then set up shop wherever I please. Or it should be – Torres del Paine is very much different from how I imagined it would be. The setup is very European, hikers all stay at the same place and there are precious few trails to explore. To be sure, the established...
exposiciónes en el cielo
I intended to read my book, I really did. In my month or so down here, I’ve read more books for pleasure than I did in 3 odd years at Northwestern. There’s something about the written word that slows things down, invites contemplation and relaxes you from the inevitable travelers fatigue. Anyways, we had finished trail work early, the sun was strong on the field near our campsite and I had a...
January 2011
22 posts
arrived
I fell in with a really good group of people here. Last night we had a small party for one of the volunteers and the coordinator (two birthdays are a good reason to celebrate right?). We built a fire, cooked sausages on a grate and passed around Austral (beer), Pisco (hard, made from grapes) and, of course, vino. It’s an eclectic mix of people – we heard different renditions of happy birthday...
Travels with Taylor and a little self-examination
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship whistle...
earlier today
I’m feeling real good about the world today. I’m on a bus back to Santiago after spending a couple days in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar with Eduardo and Renato, two new friends I met at Hostal Sobe. We spent the day exploring Valparaiso, tromping through the winding narrow streets of Cerra Bellavista before ending up at the house of Pablo Naruda, the famous Chilean poet. The neighborhood...
catch up
Hey guys,
haven´t had internet for a couple days so here are is a bunch of stuff I wrote, saved but haven´t yet posted. It starts with the bus ride from Peru to Chile, goes through Arica, Santiago, Yishi and Dmitri leaving and finally up to the present! Just made it safely to Punta Arenas, despite the massive strike that closed the airport, central market and most shops yesterday. The president...
moving on
Just a note about the exchange rate down here 2.7 soles ~ 1 dollar. You can get a decent 3 course meal complete with a beverage for around 8-9 soles. Can’t really beat those prices. Most of the money we’ve been spending here has been on transportation, gifts and ‘boletos’ – tickets for important cultural sites like Machu Picchu, cathedrals, museums and the like.
Saturday we all hit that mid-trip...
montanas, cielo y reflejos
Another all night bus, another city. This time its Puno, the jumping off point to explore Lake Titicaca and the surrounding environs. Full, full day. We took a water taxi out to some of the floating reed islands in the afternoon and explored a bit. Titicaca means ‘Puma Stone’ and is the highest lake in South America at 11 thousand some feet. The reflections of the clouds and mountains are truly...
life on the move
1/7/11
It’s crazy that just having a clean shower and bathroom is such a moral boost at this point. Budget hostels vary so much in terms of sleeping arrangements, services, cleanliness and ambience. The one we’re staying at now, piriwana, is the Ritz-Carlton of hostels. Just on square footage alone it blows everything else out of the water. It’s located in central Cuzco and boasts a central...
welcome to the andes - street food, bullfights and...
Hey! if you´re reading this, its because I love you, or you love me, or some combination of the two. Anyhow, this is an assortment of thoughts from me while I´m down here in South America. I´ve tried my best to make them sequential and logical, but what you might end up getting is a brain vomit that highlights only what I´m thinking or seeing at the time. Enjoy!
1/5/11
Part of the reason...
